Plymouth Rock Cookies

Plymouth Rock Cookies

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

2 and 1/4 cups of flour

1/4 teaspoon of salt

Mix all the ingredients, until the dough sticks together.

Form into roughly, Plymouth rock shaped (1 to 1 1/2 inch) balls. This recipe makes about 8 cookies. The actual picture of Plymouth rock, at the top of this post, is from Wikipedia, but Google images is loaded with photos of the rock, from all different angles, to use as a guide.

Use a toothpick to "engrave" each cookie with the date - 1620.

Most photos show a rectangle around the date, so I added one by pressing the handle from a lemon zester (or maybe it's a spice grater), into the dough.

Bake on a greased cookie sheet for 7 to 8 minutes, at 375 degrees Fahrenheit, until they begin to brown.

Remove from the oven, and cool completely.

Drizzle with a thin, gray tinted, powdered sugar, and milk glaze. Start with 1/4 cup of powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon of milk, 1 drop of black food coloring, and one drop of green. Then adjust, adding more milk, or sugar, until you have a nice drizzling consistency.

Allow the cookies to sit for an hour, or so, until the glaze has hardened.

Don't worry if they're not perfect. After all, there's a good deal of doubt, that the Pilgrims even landed there, despite what we learned from School House Rock (click here, to view the song on YouTube).

I'd suggest checking out American Beginnings: The Truth About Plymouth Rock with Rick Shenkman, instead (click here, to view it on How Stuff Works).

For more fun with geography, or history, check out this week's Geography, and History link-up at Children Grow, Children Explore, Children Learn.

It's great to be a homeschooler.